Led by Seele, the group turned into a small side path.
Following the steps of the path upward, climbing step by step and turning several corners, they arrived at the entrance of an alley.
"This place…"
Seele looked at the traces on the ground. Then she raised her head and looked toward the street outside, where she could see patches of frost spread across the ground.
"Someone has fought with Fragmentum creatures here," Bronya continued. "But the damage isn't severe. Both sides probably only had a brief encounter."
Seele thought of the scene she had encountered earlier, where the entire ground had been melted away, and asked, "Could it be that powerful individuals among the Fragmentum creatures clashed with each other?"
Stelle raised a hand and scratched her head. "Do Fragmentum creatures also fight over territory? Like drifters?"
Bronya shook her head. "No. Based on the Iron Guard's combat records so far, Fragmentum creatures haven't shown such characteristics."
Seele stood at the entrance of the alley and peeked outside. The street was empty, and no Fragmentum creatures could be seen.
As they continued moving forward, at some point unknown to them, the Fragmentum creatures had completely disappeared from sight.
However, most Fragmentum creatures wandered aimlessly, so this wasn't anything particularly unusual. If anything, it made moving around more convenient.
"Let's not worry about that for now. This is actually perfect, the road ahead leads to the orphanage."
Seele spoke, deciding to set aside the question of whether Fragmentum creatures had started some kind of "gang warfare." Gathering supplies as quickly as possible was the main priority.
Stelle and Bronya nodded. The three crossed the street and walked toward another set of steps leading up a small path, continuing upward.
Along the way, they saw many old items from the past. Although covered in thick dust, they were still well preserved, which made Seele feel a bit emotional.
She also thought that if everyone back then could have united like they were now to fight the Fragmentum together… maybe they wouldn't have had to abandon their homes so quickly.
After climbing a few more steps, the three finally arrived at a large open area.
This open space was filled with many pieces of equipment for children to play on. The most eye-catching was the slide in the center, but without exception, all of it was now keeping company with dust, looking broken-down and old.
Facing the slide was a massive building, its walls covered in graffiti left behind by children.
The drawings couldn't be called skillful, but the innocence and imagination within them always made people smile knowingly.
"We're here…" Seele said. "I can't believe it's already been this long… This place hasn't changed at all."
After that, Seele followed the route from her memories, found the spot where supplies had been piled up, and began rummaging through the stacked boxes.
Looking at those battered boxes, Bronya asked, "These things have been sitting here for many years, right? Are you sure there are still usable supplies inside…?"
Seele rolled her eyes at Bronya. "You don't seriously think people in the Underworld still care about expiration dates, do you? It's already good enough if there's something usable."
After saying that, Seele turned her attention back to the boxes in front of her. However, as she searched, her expression gradually grew colder.
"Nothing… nothing… empty… Why are they all empty? Who on earth..."
Before Seele could finish speaking, Stelle's shout came from not far away. "Look over here!"
Stelle was standing in a relatively secluded corner. In front of her, on the orphanage wall, there was a huge hole.
It looked as though something massive had forcibly smashed its way through.
Hearing Stelle's voice, Seele and Bronya both looked over. Immediately after, a gigantic deep-blue creature flew into their field of vision.
That deep-blue Fragmentum creature burst out of the hole Stelle had discovered, causing further damage to the wall and making the opening much larger.
The Fragmentum creature looked as if it had been violently knocked away by something. After landing, it rolled several times, only stopping when it reached the railing at the edge of the open space, where it finally stood back up.
Nearly four meters tall, the Fragmentum monster's armored surface reflected the dim starlight. A chilling aura slowly rose from its body, and an intense cold radiated from it, instantly coating the surrounding ground and objects with a layer of frost.
At that moment, the terrifying monster let out a roar toward the hole in the orphanage.
Stelle, Bronya, and Seele all stared at the horrifying creature with solemn expressions.
Stelle sized up its body, frowning as she said, "Such a big guy… doesn't look easy to deal with…"
Bronya's face was even more serious. "Frostspawn… I've only ever seen this kind of monster at the forbidden zone frontlines."
Seele clenched her teeth. Along with a burst of unstable energy fluctuations, the massive scythe appeared in her hands.
"Doesn't matter what it is… let's kill it first…"
Without a doubt, although the Frostspawn had made a somewhat miserable, even comical, entrance, its enormous size and the terrifying cold it emitted still put heavy pressure on the three women.
Just as the three were about to rush forward and beat the Frostspawn senseless, they suddenly realized that it wasn't looking in their direction at all.
The huge Fragmentum monster first turned its head to look around, then adopted a stance as if bracing for battle, nervously staring at the hole above the orphanage.
It was as if, in a split second, it had abandoned any thought of fleeing and decided to fight whatever lurked in the darkness to the death.
Throughout this process, it completely ignored the three of them.
This was probably because the Frostspawn had to devote all of its attention to dealing with something in the darkness.
What was it?
An even more terrifying and powerful Fragmentum monster?
The three women couldn't help but tighten their grips on their weapons. They tensed up and also turned their gazes toward the hole in the orphanage wall.
They heard no footsteps, yet they saw a figure step out of the hole at astonishing speed.
And that figure made all three of them utterly dumbfounded and shocked.
Look at that tall figure. Look at that flashy gait. Look at that wine-red swallowtail coat. Look at that flowing, well-groomed deep-blue hair and those green, fox-like eyes.
The one who walked out from the dark shadows of the hole was none other than, Sampo.
In that instant, a thought swept into the blank minds of Bronya and Seele. It was something Stelle had said back at the market square after they found the footprints, "Do you think it's possible that Sampo usually lives here?"
After coming out, Sampo immediately and subtly swept his gaze over the three women.
Then, pretending he knew nothing, he took a few more steps forward, putting on the air of a scheming advisor as he tried to persuade the Frostspawn to surrender, "Buddy, listen to old Sampo's advice. Let's be friends, yeah? Look at your situation, you can't run, you can't win in a fight, so why struggle here and suffer?"
"Old Sampo never lets his friends take a loss. Listen to me, surrender right now and go back with that little ancestor."
"That way, you won't have to suffer any more physical pain, and old Sampo here can go back and get a good night's sleep."
[T/N: I hope you all are enjoying the book and if you are, please do give some reviews, be it bad or good, and keep commenting in the chapters to let me know that there are actually people reading it. It makes my day and I really read every single comment that comes on every one of the books. Even reply to some comments if I can. Have a nice day, y'all~]